Radiobeacon data sharing by forwarding low energy transmissions to a cloud host

• US 9,900,119 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2017
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PB, Inc.
• Original Assignee: PB, Inc.
• Inventors: Daoura, Daniel J, Pearson-Franks, Nicholas R
• Primary Examiner(s): Sobutka, Philip
• Application Number:
  US15/681,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20170373775A1
• Time in Patent Office: 183 Days
• Field of Search: 455 7- 25
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/59 for emergency or urgency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Remote actuation of machines or machine systems is realized by a system for coupling a radiobeacon to a smart device and in turn to a broader network. The smart device is configured as a proximity-actuated “community nodal device” by an application that operates as part of the system. The community nodal device is given instructions to function as a “soft switch”: to automatically “upswitch”, amplify, and broadcast low energy, local area radiobeacon “messages” to a cloud-based server, where the message is interpreted according to rules or policies established by an operator, and a command is transmitted for execution to a remote device. Conventional smart devices generally discard data not addressed to the owner of the smart device. Instead of discarding third party messages, the system preempts their handling, and using a soft switch formed from background resources, anonymously, without access to the message by a user interface of the proxy device, and without waiting for a network query from the host, engineers an “upswitched transmission” of radiobeacon-generated data to a cloud host. Advantageously, confidential sharing of ad hoc community resources results in a negligible load on background resources of the community nodal device. Messages may include a sensor data payload. Bit overloading enables a sensor data payload to be compressed into a few hundred bytes or less.

Claims

1. A system for upswitching sensor and identification data contained in a low energy radio beacon message to a dedicated cloud host via at least one community nodal device in operative communication with a broad area network, the system comprising:

(a) one or more radiobeacons having a sensor or sensor package, a radio emitter with antenna, a processor with supporting data processing circuitry, and memory for storing data and an instruction set to be executed by said processor, wherein said radiobeacon or radiobeacons are configured to emit a low energy radio message that includes an owner unique identifier, a community unique identifier, and a sensor payload;

wherein said unique identifiers define a qualified radio signal, further wherein each said radio message is associated with a private owner of said radiobeacon or radiobeacons, said owner being identifiable by said individual unique identifier, said owner belonging to a community of members;

(b) a broad area network, said broad area network having a cloud host, said cloud host having a dedicated cloud IP address associated with said community of members, and wherein said cloud host is configured to identify a qualified radio signal, an owner of record of the qualified radio signal, and any sensor payload in said qualified radio signal;

(c) one or more smart devices of a plurality of smart devices in radio communication with said radiobeacon or radiobeacons and with said cloud host, each said smart device having a registered owner;

(d) an application installable on said one or more smart devices;

wherein said application is enabled to;

i) reconfigure said one or more smart devices as each a community nodal device, each said community nodal device having permission to use background resources thereof to separate said qualified radio signal from unidentifiable signals, to dump said unidentifiable signals, to time stamp said qualified radio signal, and to disable foreground disclosure thereof when said owner of record of said qualified radio signal is not said private owner of said radiobeacon or radiobeacons;

ii) format said qualified radio signal as a radio message addressed to said dedicated cloud IP address associated with said community of members; and

,

iii) use background resources to forward broadcast said radio message on said broad area network to said cloud host;

(e) further wherein said cloud host is enabled to receive said qualified radio signal from one or more of said community nodal devices;

i) parse said qualified radio message to identify an owner of record and any sensor payload;

ii) formulate a command or notification in response thereto according to rules established by said owner of record, said community of members, and said sensor payload; and

,

iii) transmit said command or notification over said broad area network to at least one smart device or community nodal device of said plurality of smart devices, to a remote machine, to an actuation device, or to a combination thereof.

2. The system of claim 1, further wherein said qualified radio signal is processed at an administrative server of said cloud host, wherein said administrative server is configured with an administrative database and an instruction set with instructions to:

i) parse said radio message so as to extract said owner unique identifier, said sensor payload, and any associated timestamp, proximity measurement, or geostamp coded therein;

ii) formulate said command or notification based on one or more of

a) a rule or rules associated with said owner of record;

b) a rule or rules implemented by a system administrator on behalf of said community of members; and

,

c) any contextual or aggregate data available to said server.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said application is configured to suspend any process enabled to process said message in foreground services if said owner of record of said qualified radio signal is said registered owner of said smart device and if said foreground services are unresponsive, and automatically upswitch and forward broadcast said message in background to said cloud host server for disposition according to rules associated with said private owner of said smart device, any rules implemented by a system administrator on behalf of a community of members, and any contextual or aggregate data available to said system.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said cloud host is configured to transmit said command to said plurality of smart devices, wherein said command is a command to display a notification to a community of members having converted their smart devices to community nodal devices.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein said application is configured to assemble and configure a soft switch from hardware resources of said community device;

to dump any record or content of said message from said community nodal device on completion of said forward broadcast to said cloud host server; and

, thereby to reversibly use and release any hardware resources shared by said community device each time said soft switch is required for operation of said application.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein said cloud host is configured to transmit a command over said broad area network to a remote machine, an actuation device, or a plurality thereof.

7. The system of claim 6, comprising transmitting said command to said plurality of remote machines or actuation devices, wherein said command is a command to execute a machine action or to actuate a device.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein said sensor or sensor package of said one or more beacons comprise a sensor or sensors selected from a photocell, a radiation sensor, a motion sensor, a velocity sensor, an accelerometer, a jolt sensor, a gyroscopic sensor, a gesture sensor, a gravitational sensor, a magnetic field sensor, a compass, a local time sensor, a switch open/switch closed sensor, a vibration sensor, an audio pattern detection sensor, a vehicle performance sensor, a biological agent sensor, a biochemical agent sensor, a chemical agent sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a humidity sensor, a windspeed sensor, a location sensor, a global positioning satellite sensor, a proximity sensor, a relative radio signal strength sensor, or a radio traffic sensor.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein said system comprises a first plurality of radiobeacons attached to a plurality of portable objects and a second plurality of radiobeacons having defined stationary locations.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein said command is directed to a smart device, a remote machine, or an actuation device according to a location datum received from a radiobeacon conditionally on whether said radiobeacon is stationary and known to said system, or mobile and deduced from an aggregation of radio messages.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein said command is directed to a plurality of smart devices, remote machines, or actuation devices according to a location datum received from said sensor or sensor package, from said nodal device, from a radiobeacon conditionally on whether said radiobeacon is stationary and known to said system, or mobile and deduced from an aggregation of radio messages.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein said command is configured to accord with rules established by an owner of said radiobeacon or an operator of said administrative server, said rules being conditional according to said sensor payload.

13. The system of claim 2, wherein said command is configured to accord with rules established by an owner of said radiobeacon or an operator of said administrative server, said rules being conditioned upon said context as known to said administrative server.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein said administrative server is configured to store a chronological record of said sensor payloads of an aggregation of messages.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein said administrative server is configured to compile and share a map or plot display in which sensor data is graphically displayed in aggregate, or graphically displayed with trend lines, or graphically displayed with an updatable tracker function.

16. The system of claim 2, wherein said administrative server is configured to provide a cloud-based service for graphically displaying the location of a lost object as tracked by a radiotag defined by said owner unique identifier and a community unique identifier in the form of a track or path superimposed on said map, wherein said map is updated when said administrative server receives a fresh radio contact and location of said lost object, said track comprising a chronological record of recent contacts in a mapped sequence.

17. The system of claim 2, wherein said administrative server is configured to provide a cloud-based service for mapping the location of a friend.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein said radio message comprises a plurality of frames, each frame having a defined number of bytes or bits, and further wherein an encoder operatively coupled to said processor and said radio emitter is configured to overload one or more of said frames with at least one sensor datum when transmitting said radio message.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein said radio message comprises frames;

and each frame comprises a sensor payload such that sensor payloads are streamed in series in real time as a concatenation of frames streamed in series in a message.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein said radio message includes a unique identifier value, a major value, a minor value, and a sensor payload for each of a plurality of radiobeacons in a local area, wherein said administrative database is configured to map said sensor payload according to a known location of each of said radiobeacons and to generate a display that displays aggregated most recent or aggregated historically trending sensor data from each of said radiobeacons, such that said display is continuously refreshed and can be accessed to support user queries.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein said radiobeacon includes at least one button, and said radio message emitted by said radiobeacon includes a unique identifier value and a sensor data payload, said sensor data payload reporting a state of said button, and further wherein:

a) said button is configured to generate a message when pressed that will be recognized at cloud host server as a call for help or vigilance;

b) said radiobeacon is configured to convey said message to said cloud host server through said plurality of community nodal devices; and

,

c) said cloud host is configured to transmit a command and a notification to a first responder, including a timestamp and a location of said radiobeacon.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein said cloud host is configured to command an increase in illumination, strobe lamps, or sound of an alarm at the location of said radiobeacon, or to a camera at the location when said button is pressed and said message is received at said cloud host server.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein said community nodal devices are defined by a common denominator selected from institution, neighborhood, user profile, or location.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said cloud host is configured to send a notification to said community nodal devices defined as belonging to an institution, neighborhood, or location of a potential need for vigilance at said location, wherein said notification is sent when a button press is received at said cloud host server.

25. The system of claim 2, wherein said radio signal from said radiobeacon is encoded in frames defining an identifier and a sensor signal.

26. The system of claim 5, wherein said operation of said soft switch and said upswitch process is automatic, being conducted without access to or access by a user interface.